I just need to get this off my chest...DH is tired of my inability to just snap on a long time friend.
So I have a friend who I've known 20+years. I started out @ 13yo excercizing a couple of horses for him. He doesn't hesitate to call if there's a problem and over the years during times I didn't own a horse or only had rehabs I always have a place to go tack up & ride. Horses are a hobby for him and over the years he's bred a few of his mares. Last April his mare foaled a really nice dk bay colt, IMO one of the nicest foals he's had drop on his farm. At 3 wks old while turning them out in the ring the colt ran ahead and wiped out on asphalt. He called me and described it and I told him to call the vet & I'd be right out. The colt opened up his LF knee, but worse opened up the LR knee..right above the stifle. The vet spent 3 hrs picking out gravel, she semi sutured the rear and put in a drain. There was concern for both knees as to whether they were fractured, splintered or either joint capsules pierced. Due to the locations there was no way to tap them. There was a huge pocket under the skin below the gash. I told my friend if he was going to give him a chance that I would help and I knew full well we were looking at months of recovery. The first 2 months it took me 2 1/2 hrs to clean and flush and rebandage....and make sure my then 4yo son was occupied. There was a point I told him I didn't think he was going to make it, which was at 5 weeks I got a phone call at 1am and had to run out & give an iv shot of banamine & cold bathing to try to bring down a 104.2 temp. He spent the next week of temps spiking and I was worried he was going to quit. Not to mention the huge quantities of antibiotics he'd received at this point, I still wonder about the long term effects on his system. But time passed and after 5 months the front was closed, the pocket was healing from the inside and was considerably smaller. I spent the next 2 months going out every 3rd day to flush and monitor only to have it flare up with pus again...I blamed the filthy stall and told him so. I told him he needed to get the vet back out and have it trimmed and stitched closed as I'd already let the drain holes heal over and I felt the problem was scar tissue at the top. So after repeating this for a couple of more months he had a vet out and they closed it up and castrated him at one shot. So again I was back out EVERY DAY to make sure he was hosed ( the 2yo colt had been done the fall before and I ended up taking care of him because he stopped hosing too early) He took forever to heal from the castration and just a coule of weeks ago I declared myself done.
Last week my babysitter was on vacation. My friend's daughter-in-law watched my son (I went to school with her) and proceeds to tell me my friend told her to watch out for my son...he's a brat, he wishes he hadn't let me talk him into gelding the colt and I cost him alot of money in supplies. I was too shocked for words. DH travels so with a few exceptions I had to take my son who I will admit can be a brat but you know what there were times I didn't feel like being there either!!! I actually thought he did well overall for as much time he had to spend there. I work on a TB breeding farm, we were at the height of breeding/ foaling season when this happened and this past time when the castration was finally done. During the season I work 7 days a week. Some days the last thing I want to see at the end of the day is another *&%^@! horse. I did lobby hard for the castration.....he may never be 100% sound I would bet a million bucks he will never earn any AQHA points and I don't think pretty is enough reason to breed to an unproven sire or mare for that matter. Any way I just had to vent DH is still mad because he only came over a couple of hours to help with the coop after saying he'd do the bulk of the work as payback for treating the colt. I hope this post is understandable, I haven't been sleeping well due to being ticked/ stressed over this and I'm going to bed now.
Thanks for letting me vent!
So I have a friend who I've known 20+years. I started out @ 13yo excercizing a couple of horses for him. He doesn't hesitate to call if there's a problem and over the years during times I didn't own a horse or only had rehabs I always have a place to go tack up & ride. Horses are a hobby for him and over the years he's bred a few of his mares. Last April his mare foaled a really nice dk bay colt, IMO one of the nicest foals he's had drop on his farm. At 3 wks old while turning them out in the ring the colt ran ahead and wiped out on asphalt. He called me and described it and I told him to call the vet & I'd be right out. The colt opened up his LF knee, but worse opened up the LR knee..right above the stifle. The vet spent 3 hrs picking out gravel, she semi sutured the rear and put in a drain. There was concern for both knees as to whether they were fractured, splintered or either joint capsules pierced. Due to the locations there was no way to tap them. There was a huge pocket under the skin below the gash. I told my friend if he was going to give him a chance that I would help and I knew full well we were looking at months of recovery. The first 2 months it took me 2 1/2 hrs to clean and flush and rebandage....and make sure my then 4yo son was occupied. There was a point I told him I didn't think he was going to make it, which was at 5 weeks I got a phone call at 1am and had to run out & give an iv shot of banamine & cold bathing to try to bring down a 104.2 temp. He spent the next week of temps spiking and I was worried he was going to quit. Not to mention the huge quantities of antibiotics he'd received at this point, I still wonder about the long term effects on his system. But time passed and after 5 months the front was closed, the pocket was healing from the inside and was considerably smaller. I spent the next 2 months going out every 3rd day to flush and monitor only to have it flare up with pus again...I blamed the filthy stall and told him so. I told him he needed to get the vet back out and have it trimmed and stitched closed as I'd already let the drain holes heal over and I felt the problem was scar tissue at the top. So after repeating this for a couple of more months he had a vet out and they closed it up and castrated him at one shot. So again I was back out EVERY DAY to make sure he was hosed ( the 2yo colt had been done the fall before and I ended up taking care of him because he stopped hosing too early) He took forever to heal from the castration and just a coule of weeks ago I declared myself done.
Last week my babysitter was on vacation. My friend's daughter-in-law watched my son (I went to school with her) and proceeds to tell me my friend told her to watch out for my son...he's a brat, he wishes he hadn't let me talk him into gelding the colt and I cost him alot of money in supplies. I was too shocked for words. DH travels so with a few exceptions I had to take my son who I will admit can be a brat but you know what there were times I didn't feel like being there either!!! I actually thought he did well overall for as much time he had to spend there. I work on a TB breeding farm, we were at the height of breeding/ foaling season when this happened and this past time when the castration was finally done. During the season I work 7 days a week. Some days the last thing I want to see at the end of the day is another *&%^@! horse. I did lobby hard for the castration.....he may never be 100% sound I would bet a million bucks he will never earn any AQHA points and I don't think pretty is enough reason to breed to an unproven sire or mare for that matter. Any way I just had to vent DH is still mad because he only came over a couple of hours to help with the coop after saying he'd do the bulk of the work as payback for treating the colt. I hope this post is understandable, I haven't been sleeping well due to being ticked/ stressed over this and I'm going to bed now.
Thanks for letting me vent!
